Local Aeroelastic Instability of High-Speed Cylindrical Vehicles

Different levels of structural modeling fidelity are evaluated against experimental results for the local aeroelastic stability boundaries of an internally pressurized circular cylindrical shell. Finite-element analysis is used to inform a modal approach taken to model the structural dynamics. Third-order piston theory is used to model the external and internal surfaces' unsteady aerodynamic pressures. Results are used to drive model improvements of free-flight aerothermoelastic simulation in order to predict aeroelastic instabilities in a representative supersonic/hypersonic vehicle. The stability of a finite-element cylindrical structure when inclined to the flow is also considered to inform future work in which a cylindrical high-speed vehicle is required to perform maneuvers.